


Trip and Stumble

by Star55



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Genderswap, Girl Direction, girl!Liam - Freeform, girl!Louis, sporting injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 04:53:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3755167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While running, Liam gets distracted by the girls' footie team. Especially by the girl with the amazing arse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trip and Stumble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArielFabulous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArielFabulous/gifts).



> Written as a part of April being [Girl Direction Month](http://star55.tumblr.com/post/115149758256).
> 
> Also, a warning for slight homophobia at the start. Not enough to warrant a tag. And no, I do not think that Liam's sister, Nicola, is actually homophobic, it just fits in with the story for this specific purpose.
> 
> For Ariel. Who originally prompted this as Niam but I didn't have any Lilo, so I changed it up. Oops?  
> A massive thanks to Danielle for the beta read. ♥♥

_Thump, thump, thump_.

The pounding of her feet on the track ground keeps Liam focused. She runs steadily, her heart beating in time with each steps she takes. The ground is hard underneath her feet but it is the adrenaline that keeps her going. 

That, and she loves to run. 

Running is easy. It is something that Liam is good at. Something that doesn’t take much thinking. Her head can clear itself as she runs; all thoughts of teenage angst and how hard it was coming out to her sister within the last week had been. 

All of those thoughts flit away with every stride she takes, the muscles in her calves aching from constant use. The burn is good for helping her to forget. Helps her forget the look on Nicola’s face as Liam had uttered the words that she thinks she might be gay.

Nicola had covered it up pretty quickly but that brief flash of sadness that had crossed her face would be forever ingrained in Liam’s brain. It _hurt_ , knowing that her sister wasn’t supportive, maybe _couldn’t_ ever be supportive. Liam thought sisters were meant to be there for each other no matter what.

It hadn’t been something that had sprung up on Liam, of course. She had starting noticing girls at the start of the year. She knows that she’s different, that not every single sixteen year old was going through the same thing she is. But it doesn’t mean that Liam wants to be alone in it. 

After she had told Nicola, she decided there and then that she would focus all of her energy on something else. To distract herself, to take her mind off things. The fact that she runs track helps a lot. She is able to let all of her everyday problems fade to the back of her mind and focus only on the steps her feet make. 

So far, it has been working really well.

Until the girls’ football team started to practice at the same time Liam’s track practices were. 

The thing is, there are just _so_ many girls in little shorts that Liam can’t help but notice. She’s sixteen and becoming sexually aware, she knows this. But it doesn’t help her how distracted she gets by them, like she’s no better than the stupid boys that hang out on the sidelines, wolf whistling at the girls as they do their stretches to warm up. 

So Liam pushes herself harder than she has ever pushed herself before. 

She needs to be distracted all of the time, from everything, and running certainly helps. 

She likes the rhythm of it, the constant normalcy of it. No one expects anything of her except for her to run. And running? That’s easy for Liam.

Except for when it isn’t.

Liam happens to look up at the absolute _wrong_ time on a Friday afternoon during her own personal running time. She sees the entire girls’ football team bending over, stretching, and there’s this one girl with an _amazing_ arse in a _tiny_ pair of shorts that Liam can’t help but stare at. She shakes her head and refocuses her attention on running. She does another lap and looks up again as the girls start practicing, having a muck around game. 

They’re good, Liam thinks. Really good. The girl with the amazing arse runs faster than Liam expected someone of her small stature to, but she’s quick and she’s sliding to kick the ball away from her opponent.

And that’s when it happens.

Liam trips, stumbling over her own feet and she barely gets her hands out in front of her before she’s face planting it into the ground. She groans in pain, the skin of her palms raw and her ankle throbbing already. 

She hears laughter around her and she sits up, just in time to see the girls’ football team having stopped playing to see her falling. Liam groans and ducks her head, trying to save herself from embarrassment. 

As she tries to stand, her ankle gives out and she plonks back down on the ground. She sits there helplessly for a few moments, ready to just give up and cry when she hears someone calling out to her, asking her if she’s alright.

Liam looks up to see the girl with the great arse walking towards her, a concerned look on her face. 

“You alright?” the girl asks again.

“I think I’ve sprained my ankle,” Liam replies.

“Here, let me help you up,” the girl says. She gets her arms around Liam and hoists her with more strength than Liam anticipates. She wobbles for a moment but the girl has a strong grip around her. “There you go, Liam.”

“You know my name?” Liam asks dumbly.

The girl smiles. “Of course I do,” she says. “I’m the footie captain, it’s my job to know the names of all the girls in the school who are into sports. I’m Louis, though, in case you don’t know that already.”

“Nice to meet you,” Liam replies. She feels stupid holding onto Louis like she is but she knows that she can’t put any weight on her ankle right now or it’ll give out underneath her.

“C’mon,” Louis says, shifting her grip until she’s holding onto Liam around her waist. “Let’s get that seen to.”

They hobble all the way to the school’s nurse and she clucks her tongue upon seeing them, but immediately wraps Liam’s ankle in a tight bandage. It feels mildly better but she’s instructed to go straight home and put some ice on it to reduce the swelling.

“Shit,” Liam mumbles as the nurse leaves the room. 

“What?” Louis asks, having not left yet.

“I have no way to get home,” Liam begins. “I usually walk and my mum and dad are out of town this weekend. My sister is looking after me but she’s at work still.”

“It’s alright, I’ll take you,” Louis says with a shrug.

“What? No, I can’t put you out like that,” Liam protests.

Louis shakes her head. “I’ll take you home,” she says firmly. “You stay here. I’ll go get your things and meet you back here in no time.”

“…Alright,” Liam agrees reluctantly.

Louis disappears before Liam can protest again. She reappears a short while later, both her own and Liam’s back packs slung over one shoulder. 

“Alright, up you get,” Louis says, helping Liam stand. 

They slowly, but surely, make their way out to the student car park where Louis’ beat up old car is parked and Louis helps her into the passenger’s seat, lowering her with a tenderness Liam wasn’t expecting.

Liam instantly feels bad when she looks around and sees Louis bending over to put their bags in the backseat of the car and immediately scolds herself for looking at Louis’ arse again. That’s what got her into this mess in the first place.

With Liam’s instructions, Louis drives Liam home safely and helps her inside the house. She grabs a bag of frozen peas, wraps it in a tea towel and passes it to Liam. 

“There,” she says. “That should do it.”

“Thank you, Louis,” Liam says gratefully. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Anytime,” Louis replies with a shrug. “I have to go get my sisters from school but we’ll talk soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Liam echoes. 

“And maybe we can talk about you staring at my arse,” Louis adds. Liam chokes on air, spluttering as she tries to avoid Louis’ gaze. “And maybe talk about how you can take me and my arse out on a date as payment?” She give Liam a massive grin and winks at her.

“I… You… Umm…” Liam stutters.

“I put my number in your phone before,” Louis begins. “Text me while you’re resting up, alright?”

“…Yeah,” Liam agrees dumbly. She’s even more dumbstruck when Louis’ lips press against her cheek before she leaves the house and leaves Liam alone with her thoughts. 

A small bout of giddiness rises up inside of her and she fishes her phone out of her pocket to see that Louis has indeed saved her number into Liam’s phone, along with the sunshine emoji. Liam can’t help but think it’s very fitting of her and she grins as she types out her first text, hopefully of many, to Louis.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my sixteenth contribution to [Girl Direction Month](http://star55.tumblr.com/post/115149758256).
> 
> As always, you can find me here on my [tumblr](http://star55.tumblr.com) or here on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/Star_55), if you like. ♥


End file.
